Syllabus
Week 1 Introduction to lexicology; key terms (word-morpheme-lexeme-sign). Lexical and grammatical system; open and closed word classes.
Week 2 Morphological structure of words. Word formation – affixation.
Week 3 Word formation – compounding, conversion.
Week 4 Minor word-formation processes (blending, back-formation, clipping, abbreviations, acronyms)
Week 5 Historical development of the English word-stock. Borrowing and etymology; types of loans and the process of domestication. Linguistic characterology of the English word-stock.
Week 6 Syntagmatic sense relations. Collocation.
Week 7 Set expressions (e.g. phrasal verbs, idioms, proverbs, sayings, catch-phrases). Transparent vs opaque words.
Week 8 Word Meaning. Meaning and form (arbitrariness and motivation). Types of meaning (denotation, connotation).
Week 9 Paradigmatic sense relations (synonymy, oppositeness, meronymy, hyperonymy-hyponymy)
Week 10 Polysemy. Figures of speech (metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, personification).
Week 11 Word-stock Layers. Registers. Style. Centre and periphery of the English word-stock.
Week 12 Revision.
Annotation
The aim of the course is to acquaint students with the basic issues of the Modern English lexicology. The course addresses the following major areas: the morphological structure of words, word-formation processes, lexical semantics, stylistic stratification of the lexicon and the processes of borrowing.
Although the primary perspective will be synchronic, where relevant, the most important historical (linguistic, social-cultural) milestones in the development of the English language will be taken into account. Téma 1: Basic terminology.
Characteristic features of the English vocabulary. Téma 2: Morphological structure of words; major and minor word-formation processes.
Téma 3: Historical development of the English vocabulary. Téma 4: Collocation.
Téma 5: Set expressions. Téma 6: Word meaning; paradigmatic sense relations; figures of speech.
Téma 7: Stylistic stratification of the English vocabulary.